Walking Dead 1. Chapter 1

Chapter One; Enter Bailey Carter.

The light was fading, creating new shadows and dark patches around her. Eyes glimmered from tree hollows. The wind wailed between distorted trunks, carrying the sickly stink of wood rot. She moved faster, ignoring the briars that caught at her jeans, the damp leaves that grimed her skin. She lifted her face, letting the light and shadow dance across her skin. Bees hummed in and out of the pennyroyal. She inhaled its minty smell and continued on, delighting in the sound of her feet sliding through the leaves.

"Keep it down would ya' girl? We're trying to catch up to that deer, not attract every damn walker in the area." His harsh whisper cut through the air, causing Bailey to roll her eyes at her hunting partner. Throwing him a look over her shoulder, she continued to press forward through the dense woods.

"Maybe if you'd use your legs half as much as you use your mouth, we'd have caught up by now." Her snarky reply made Daryl smirk as his eyes wondered, they started from the top; her flowing chestnut colour hair that twisted in curls and waves, stopping just short of her thin waist. Daryls' eyes shortly and firmly landed on her plumped behind. His licked his lips for a moment before speaking.

"Watch your tongue, don't think I won't put an arrow in ya' ass 'cause you're a girl."

"And waste an arrow? I don't think so." By now Bailey had picked up her pace, noticing the tracks beneath her feet belonged to the deer they had been tracking for the past few days. "It's just up ahead, hurry."

"Can't waste an arrow on meat that fine." He muttered to himself quietly. He quickened his steps to catch up to the woman, treading quietly beside her while scanning the ground for tracks. Hearing something in the distance, Daryl held up his hand to signal Bailey, causing her to stop and crouch down as did Daryl. With his crossbow aimed before him, and Baileys' pistol before her, they moved in silence. Eyes' wide for any signs of movement, deer or walker. "Voices?" she asked softly.

"We're close to camp. It must be them." Nodding to each other, they pushed forward and made themselves noticeable to the group. Only then did they notice that the deer they had indeed been hunting these past few days was dead. Not from their arrows, but from the killing of a now dead walker. Rage ran through Daryl which came as no surprise to Bailey as she sighed with disappointment. She looked at the group, nodding to those she knew, and eyeing the new stranger carefully before walking next to Glenn and patting his back.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this.. Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" The group watched as Daryl kicked the dead walker with anger and frustration. Bailey understood his emotions; they had both been out tracking this animal for quite some time, even during the thunderous storm that they survived last night in the woods. Before she could do anything, the eldest of the group Dale, spoke out to him.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping."

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"? We've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna' drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl asked, using an arrow to circle the eaten part of the deer.

"I would not risk that." Spoke the 'leader' of the group, Shane. He never sat right with Bailey, something about him made her wearing. She followed his orders to an extent, but only ever did what she thought to be right. Glenn was probably the only person in the group she'd ever consider to trust. A sigh could be heard escaping Daryls' lips. "That's a damn shame. We got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He nodded to Bailey who held up her number of squirrels.

Suddenly, the head of the Walker starts to move its teeth, causing Andrea and Amy to gag in disgust. A chorus of 'Oh god.' And 'Ew make it stop' was heard, aggravating Bailey. "Oh come on." She muttered, pulling out her gun, she aimed for its head and shot it between the eyes. Bailey was pretty much the only person from the group who could use a gun at any point as hers' was the only one to have a silencer attached.

"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Complained Daryl before making his way pass the group and back to camp, no doubt to see his brother; Merle and to cook up with squirrel they had caught. The group followed closely behind, but Bailey could sense something was not right from the way Glenn remained silent since her arrival.

Once back at camp, Daryl wasted no time in calling out to his brother. " Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." Shane called out to him, following behind. Bailey eyed him while putting her line of squirrels next to Daryls and walking away, leaning against the RV to watch the scene unfold.

"About what?" Daryl replies, turning to face Shane.

"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta." Daryl looked to the ground, hesitant before asking his next question and bracing himself for the answer.

"He dead?"

"We're not sure." Well, that wasn't the answer he was expecting, Bailey watched in curiosity as to how it would all turn out. She knew Daryls' tempter better than anyone here.

"He either is or he ain't!" Confusion and anger was showing clearly on his face as he stepped towards Shane.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Spoke the stranger of the group. Bailey pushed off of the RV with her foot and stood forward a couple steps, not trusting the stranger. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched in silence as Daryl spoke the question she had been thinking.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes." Bailey eyed him, noticing his gun tucked away in the back of his jeans. He had some sort of authority about him, not military, but like similar to that of Shane. She also couldn't help but notices the striking resemblance that Carl had to this man. She glanced at the child, whom was holding his mother's hand tightly while watching the scene from inside the RV.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Bailey sighed; Rick was both brave and stupid to just openly admit that to Daryl, though she respected his honestly. She knew how Merle could be a handful, but Daryl won't be so understand.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

Daryl goes to attack him, but Rick shoves him off. Daryl pulls his knife out, but Shane is able to come up behind him and put him in a chokehold. "You best let me go!"

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick replied calmly, kneeling down to him on the floor. Receiving a nod from Daryl, Shane let him go and stood back to watch.

"What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." But Rick was cut off by T-Dog.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it down a drain." Daryl growled in anger.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof… So the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock. It's gotta count for something." T- Dog tried, but Daryl shot him down once again.

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him." Bailey yawned and walked away from the scene and towards her tent. She was bored of all this commotion now and just wanted to unwind and clean her guns. So she did just that.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Bailey found herself being approached by Rick. She finished cleaning her gun and put the final pieces together before looking up at him from her chair beside her tent. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment until Bailey raises an eyebrow at him, making him give off a nervous laugh.

"Bailey, wasn't it? You seem to know your way around a gun, and the silencer too. Smart thinking." He eyed the piece in her hand. Bailey stood up and tucked away the gun in the back of her jeans, then tucked her hair behind her ear. "I guess you could say that." Rick nodded.

"So listen, I hear you have some sort of a.. connection, with Daryl." Her eyes flickered to Daryl whom was across the camp collecting more of his arrows. She looked back at Rick with a sceptical look. "Something like that.."

"Well I was hoping you'd come with us to retrieved Merle. Help keep Daryl under control so to say. I have no doubt he's rather unpredictable." Bailey gave a short laugh, looking over at Daryl again. "To be honest we could use all the help we could get, Shane told me you have no problem taking care of yourself." She rolled her eyes and looked into his eyes for a moment, debating in her mind on what to do, eventually she sighed.

"Alright, Just stay out of my way."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two; Atlanta

In Atlanta, T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, Bailey and Rick still stared at Merle's severed hand. Daryl turned his crossbow on T-Dog to kill him, but Rick pulled out his Python, causing Bailey to aim her gun at Rick. They had all made it to the roof where Rick and previously handcuffed Merle, only to find Merle had got away by cutting off his own hand. _'Don't do anything stupid Daryl.'_ Bailey thought, with her gun still aimed at Ricks head.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick warned Daryl, not noticing Bailey too had her gun aimed until the tip of her silencer nudged the back of his head.

"And if you value your life, you'd think about that again." She added with a calm voice. Glenn began to panic as he watched the group, a silence formed between then for a moment as Daryls' eyes flickered to Baileys' then back at T-Dog. He eventually lowered his crossbow making Rick and Bailey put away their weapons.

"You got a do-rag or something?" Daryl asked no one in particular, anger now gone from his voice. T-Dog handed him one and Daryl took it, and then used it to pick up Merle's severed hand that had already started decaying.

"I guess he saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Bailey spoke, looking around at the scene.

"Ain't that a bitch." Daryl replied, inspecting the hand before wrapping it in the rag and then placing it away into Glenns' backpack. "He must have used a tourniquet… maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't." That's when the group noticed the trail of blood leading away from the scene. The group started to follow it while T-Dog picked up the tools on the roof for Dale back at camp. They noticed a separate building connected to the roof and followed down the stairs.

It led them to some sort of office, Daryl and Bailey in front with their weapons in hand. Seeing as they're both silent weapons, they were to lead the group in case of any encounters with walkers. Only finding one along the way, Daryl quickly killed it with a shot to the head while Bailey looked around making sure it was clear before signalling the others to follow. As they did, they noticed two already dead walkers on the ground, their heads destroyed and a blood covered spanner beside them.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sons of bitches. One handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick replied, following close behind.

"We should keep moving." And with that, the group followed Baileys' lead into another room, Daryl close behind. She looked over her shoulder at him for confirmation and he nodded in return. Ever since Bailey joined the group, a couple days after Daryl and his brother, Merle; they had somewhat of a silent agreement to watch each other back until they went their separate ways.

Of course this bond wasn't instant; it only formed after they had saved each other from a walker bite during an attack. It then became habit to watch out for one another, Bailey being the only person Daryl would even speak to for quite some time without threatening her. But Bailey wasn't like the others, she's quick witted and smart, only looking out for herself and occasionally Daryl. She could handle herself in a fight and didn't open up to others about her past; she kept herself to herself and stayed out of everyone's way.

That's what Daryl liked.

The group continued to search for Merle. They soon come upon a kitchen where a stove is still lighted. They found Merle's belt sitting on the top of it. Daryl called out into the room.

"Merle!"

"We're not alone here, remember?" Rick reminded him.

"Screw that, he could be bleeding out. You said so yourself." Bailey moved to pick up his belt that was left on top the stove. "What's that burnt stuff?"

"Skin. He must have cauterized the stump." She replied to Daryl, placing the belt back to its original spot.

"Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Bailey rolled her eyes.

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." They then noticed that the window had been smashed, Merle must have used that to escape. Glenn spoke up for the first time since entering the building.

"He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving." Bailey replied, looking out the window for any sight of the older Dixon brother.

"You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" T-Dog huffed, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms. Glenn nodded in agreement.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks. You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard." Daryl growled, things were beginning to get heated, Daryls temper slowly getting worse.

"What about a thousand dead dumb bastards? Different story?" Rick added fuel to the fire. Bailey rubbed her temples. He had originally asked her along to keep Daryl under control, but Rick was the one pushing Daryls' buttons.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him. You coming?" He asked Bailey, looking directly as her, with a nod of her head she began to follow him until Rick grabbed her upper arm.

"Daryl, Bailey; wait."

"Get your hands off her! You can't stop us." Daryl growled, raising his crossbow at Rick. Bailey said nothing, but remained emotionless at the commotion, she knew she could get out of Ricks' grip easily but any sudden movements could provoke Daryl to shoot Rick, and that would cause even more trouble for them.

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. But he can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head and work together." Rick reasoned while slowly letting go of Baileys arm, keeping eye contact with Daryl at all times. She pulled away from him and stood beside Daryl, who began to lower his crossbow.

"I could do that." She answered for the both of them. The T-Dog soon spoke up; "Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" Bailey rolled her eyes, but he did have a point.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three; How to save a life.

"You're not doing this alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much."

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out. If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast." Bailey tried first, then Daryl. But Glenn was determined to do this alone; he began to draw a map of the street on the ground and then marked the tank and the bag of guns.

"Look. That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked curiously, looking at the map drawn.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun. While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag, That's why I need Bailey to stay with Rick and T-Dog."

"No way, I'm coming with you." Bailey argued, looking directly at Glenn. He opened his mouth so argue back but she cut him off before he could utter a word.

"I'm just as fast, possibly faster. And with my silencer, I'll be able to cover us if things get bad without drawing too much attention. I've been trained to do this, either I come with you or I go in alone. Your choice kid." Everyone looked from Bailey to Glenn. "Alright, fine." He stated, then looked back down at the map and continued explaining everyone's parts.

"Rick and T-Dog, right. You'll be in this alley here.""

"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick asked, checking that his gun was firmly attached to his hip.

"Bailey and I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut us off. If that happens, we won't go back to Daryl. We'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction we go, we got you in both places to cover us. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?"

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Bailey gave a short laugh through her nose and smiled a little.

"Alright ladies, let's move." She added, grabbing everyone's attention. The group each prepared there weapons and made their ways swiftly to their locations outside the building.

Glenn, Bailey and Daryl crawl down the ladder and run down the alley. While Rick and T-Dog head down the other alley. Daryl loads his crossbow while Bailey checks her clip making sure it was full, she nodded at Daryl and he nodded back, the three of them begin to move forward swiftly.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman. I expected this from her, not you." Daryl spoke, nodding at Bailey when he mentioned her. She rolled her eyes and got ready to follow after Glenn.

"I'm Korean."

"Whatever."

And then they were off. Glenn and Bailey runs down the street. Several Walkers noticed then but didn't aggressively chase them yet. While Daryl waits behind the trashcan, a young man of Mexican descent walked down the alley. Daryl spots him and immediately pointed his crossbow at him.

Bailey noticed one of the walkers had spotted her and Glenn, and began making its way towards them. She checked her surroundings to make sure no more had spotted them, and quickly killed the walker in silence. Glenn gave her a look of thanks and continued forward.

"Ayúdame!" Bailey looked behind her quickly, trying to locate the source of the noise. _That sounded like it came from the alley where Daryl is. _

Pressing forward she tried to concentrate on the job at hand, but she and Glenn noticed the Walkers start to converge on them as they grabs the bag of guns and Rick's sheriff's hat. They runs back down the street he came, Bailey killing some walkers in the way until her clip was empty.

"Ayúdame! Ayúdame! Ayúdame!" _There it is again._ Bailey sped up, dodging walkers as she ran while making sure Glenn was close behind. When they arrived they noticed Daryl on the floor and three Mexicans crowed around him. "Daryl!"

"That's it. That's the bag, Vato. Take it! Take it!"

With no ammo in the clip and no time to search the back of guns her and Glenn had grabbed, Bailey stood in front of Glenn as two of the men ran at them. Using her skills from the military she began to defend herself with just her hands against the men. She quickly disarmed the one carrying a baseball bat and knocked him into the wall, ducking as the other tried to swing at her head. With a kick to his chest the man stumbled back but regained himself as three other men appeared behind Glenn in a vehicle.

"Glenn, look out!" They grabbed Glenn and held him hostage. Daryl was able to shoot one of the men in the rear end with his crossbow and the man cried out in pain. Bailey received a punch to the face while distracted and lost her balance slightly, using the trashcan to regain it.

"Get off me! Get off! Bailey! Daryl! Help me!"

"Glenn!" With no guns, but Glenn as a hostage, the group fled. But not before Bailey managed to grab the youngest of the group and pulled him back, punching him in the stomach making him double over in pain on the floor. The men left quickly, leaving the boy behind.

"Come back here, you sons of bitches!" Daryl yelled, running past Bailey after the car. "Daryl, the gate. Hurry!"

Daryl grabbed the gate and shut it before the Walkers can get at them. Only then did Rick and T-Dog finally arrive to see what happened.

"Woah woah, what happened?" Rick asked in surprise as he looked at the boy on the floor in pain.

" I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl roared at the boy who was clearly now scared.

"Stop Daryl! Who the hell is this?" T-Dog asked, placing his hands up to Daryl in means to calm him.

"They took Glenn." Bailey voiced, glaring at the boy.

"That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"No time for that Daryl, we're cut off. We have to move."

"Baileys' right. Quickly, get to the lab. Go! Go!" Rick yelled, grabbing the bag of guns and his hat. The group then run off to the lab, with the boy as a new addition for now. Once they were back in the safety of the lab, Bailey threw the boy at a chair, forcing him to sit down and face the group.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." She said, not even looking at the boy. She went straight to her backpack and pulled out a box of ammo and began reloading her clip.

"I ain't telling you nothing." The boy spat back, but fear showed clearly in his eyes. "Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked, still confused at the whole thing.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." Bailey glanced at Daryl for a moment as he spoke, then back to her weapon. She checked the now full clip for good measure then placed it firmly into her gun.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault."

"They took Glenn. Could have taken merle too." Daryl argued back with the boy. But the young Mexican began to chuckle and Bailey knew this wasn't going to end well on his behalf.

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog merle." She moved immediately to Daryl and place her hand on his chest to hold him back. "Daryl, don't. He's the only one who can lead us to Glenn." She reasoned, looking him in the eye. He glanced her way for a second then made his way past her to Glenns bag where he pulled out Merles severed hand.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" He threw the hand onto the boys lap, who immediately began to freak out and back away against the wall nearby.

"Think we'll start with the feet this time." He made his way towards the boy again but this time Rick stood in front of him and forced him back.

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them; see if we can work something out." Rick tried in a calming voice. Daryl grunted and walked away, loading an arrow into his crossbow in means to intimidate the boy into answering.

_Guess we're going on a rescue mission. _


End file.

Walking Dead, Adventure, Romance